Game On:
Tennessee to Sue Feds Over Unconstitutional Refugee Resettlement by Michael
Patrick Leahy, 4/19/16
NASHVILLE,
Tennessee–On Tuesday, the Tennessee General Assembly declared it will sue the
federal government over its refugee resettlement program on Tenth Amendment
grounds.
The
State Senate passed a resolution authorizing that lawsuit in a 29 to 4 vote one
day after it passed the Tennessee House by a 69 to 25 margin.
“Today
we struck a blow for Liberty by finally adopting SJR467,” State Senator Mark
Norris (R-Collierville), the co-sponsor of the resolution who shepherded it
through the State Senate, tells Breitbart News. “The General Assembly clearly
understands the importance of public safety and state sovereignty as
demonstrated by the overwhelming support of this Resolution for which we are
thankful. The Syrian surge heightens our sense of urgency to get this properly
before the courts, and we urge the Attorney General to act without delay,” Norris
adds.
Tennessee,
which withdrew from the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program in 2008, will now
become the first state to sue the federal government over its operation of the
program within the borders of its state on Tenth Amendment grounds. Alabama
and Texas are currently suing the
federal government over the refugee resettlement program on the narrower
grounds that it has failed to comply with the Refugee Act of 1980.
“As a
state legislator, it is my duty to fulfill my oath and to exercise
Constitutional authority,” House sponsor State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver
(R-Lancaster) tells Breitbart News.
“I
take it seriously to do all I can to protect the sovereignty of our great
state. Either we abide by the Tenth Amendment or we ignore it,” she adds.
“It’s
time for states to say no more federal overreach and I really believe that the
federal government was created by the states and not the other way around,”
Weaver says.
“Proud
to have been involved in the process. It’s been a long road,” State Rep. Judd
Matheny (R-Tullahoma) tells Breitbart News, adding: I held our first hearing in
2013 to look into this issue and I believe we have exhausted very option other
than a law suit. I am very proud of [House resolution lead sponsor] State Rep.
Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster) and her steadfastness, as well as the House
Republican Caucus for sticking with this fight to this conclusion.
The
House added an amendment to the resolution that first sailed through the State
Senate in February which specified the lawsuit would be conducted at no cost to
the state. The State Senate passed that amended resolution Tuesday.
It is
now a certainty that Tennessee will sue the federal government. The
only unknown is whether Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, will add his support to
the resolution, and whether Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery will
represent the Tennessee General Assembly. Haslam previously
indicated he has reservations about the
law suit.
Under
Tennessee law, resolutions of the Tennessee General Assembly do not require the
governor’s signature to become effective.
The
resolution calls for the Attorney General to consider representing the General
Assembly in federal court. Should the Attorney General choose not to represent
the General Assembly, the Thomas
More Law Center, a respected public interest law
firm, has said it will represent the state at no cost. It is unclear how long
the General Assembly will give the Attorney General to make up his mind.
Tennessee
is one of twelve states that have withdrawn from the program in which the
federal government has, without statutory authority, handed over the
resettlement of refugees to “voluntary agencies” (VOLAGs) under a regulation
concocted from thin air by the Department of Health and Human Services known as
“the Wilson-Fish alternative program.”
The
other Wilson Fish alternative program states are Alaska, Alabama, Colorado,
Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota,
and Vermont. State legislatures, governors, and gubernatorial candidates in
several of these states have already expressed an interest in following
Tennessee’s lead or joining Tennessee’s lawsuit, sources tell Breitbart News.
As
Breitbart News reported, the operation of the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program
has become a lucrative
industry for a number of voluntary
agencies, many of which are affiliated with Christian organizations.
The
passage of the resolution is timely, as the Obama administration has stepped up
its efforts to increase refugee resettlement recently.
The
administration announced it would accelerate
the vetting time for Syrian refugees from
two years to three months in order to meet its self- imposed goal of bringing
in 10,000 refugees from that country during the fiscal year which ends in
September.
In
March, the Partnership for a New American Economy, a left-wing pro-immigrant
group funded by
former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and several corporate executives, along
with the George Soros-funded Welcoming America, announced that they have selected twenty
American communities to receive “Gateways for Growth” financial grants because
of their receptive attitude to immigrants.
Pro-immigrant
activists within and external to the U.S. State Department appear intent on
distributing resettled refugees to many small and medium-size cities around the
country.
In
South Dakota, for instance. a Wilson-Fish alternative program state, the small
city of Aberdeen (population 26,000) has recently been targeted by that state’s
voluntary agency, Lutheran Social Services, as a direct refugee resettlement site.
The
Tenth Amendment case against the federal government’s operation of the refugee
resettlement program in these Wilson Fish alternative program states is strong,
as Breitbart News reported previously: In 1984, Senator Pete Wilson (R-CA),
concerned at the disproportionate number of refugees sent to the state of
California and the high cost of the program borne by the California state
government in the form of payments made to refugees settled under the program
who seemed to be unable to establish self-sufficiency in a timely manner,
introduced an amendment to the 1984 Immigration and Naturalization Act to
address that problem.
On
October 2, 1984 when Senator Wilson introduced Amendment No. 6965 to the
Immigration and Naturalization Act (which would subsequently be known as the
Wilson-Fish amendment), he stated: ‘The
specific intention of this amendment is to encourage refugee self-support and
employment in California, a State which consistently receives at
least 22 percent of all incoming refugees. A disproportionate number of
refugees end up on welfare rolls. The language in this amendment will allow
alternative approaches to this welfare dependency cycle.’ (emphasis added)
The
language of the amendment, which was incorporated into the law passed in 1984,
reads: ‘The Secretary shall develop and implement alternative projects for
refugees who have been in the United States less than thirty-six months, under
which refugees are provided interim support, medical services, support services,
and case management, as needed, in a manner that encourages self-sufficiency,
reduces welfare dependency, and fosters greater coordination among the
resettlement agencies and service providers.’
The
Wilson-Fish amendment does not mention or even allude to using the Secretary’s
authority to fund Wilson-Fish alternative projects as a way to usurp the
authority of state governments, such as whether a state would even agree to a
refugee resettlement program operating in the state.
Tennessee
State Rep. Weaver sums up the attitude of most Tennesseans to the federal
government’s continued efforts to tell states what they are allowed to do under
the Obama administration.
“There
are numerous other departments of federal overreach we need to push back as well.
To name a few—EPA, education, and health care, and Second Amendment rights,”
Weaver tells Breitbart News. “By golly, guess what? We the people of Tennessee
are responding!” she adds.
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